I get the patch installed and I find that the editor is not only unavailable within the game itself, but not supported by bluebyte or ubisoft. Sweet. Why can't this series have a map editing function like the very first game. You just generated a random map. Or like Sid Meiers Civilization series, when you can customize everything right down to how much water is on the map. It is almost as if some person or group of people are intentionally making sure there is nothing like that in this game ever. So now I have to what, spend my whole Saturday afternoon creating my own map right down to the scorpions wandering around? Can't I just click a button that says "generate map" -- and it asks a few questions like, how many opponents, how difficult etc... then in a few seconds, bang, I'm playing the game?! No, that would be too easy. Come on!!! Just give in already and make one! Stop being so stubborn!

Some people find creating new maps more enjoyable than playing the game itself. Sure wouldn't it be cool to be able to randomly generate a map? Yeah, it would be, but we can't. So create your own, or download one that someone else wasted their saturday creating.

You have to kind of look at it like this: The developers also used a form of the editor that we see today, and they used it to create the maps shipped with the game, they didn't use a random map generator to create the maps that shipped, so I don't see why they would take the time to create a random map generator to ship with the game either.

Thrasher I do agree somewhat with what you are saying - The old map generator was great and added new elements to the game as each map appeared totally different.
On the other hand the map editor is used by people who make single and multiplayer maps - mainly with the intention on finally sharing it with others.

I enjoy creating maps and im really getting the hang of the editor and do agree that a random map generator would also be good - but they arent to be confused with each other tho as they do provide different things.

I agree that a random map generator would be a great feature. I love creating my own maps, but I don't like starting with a blank screen. It would be nice to set a few basic parameters, generate a map, and then use the map "editor" to edit that map your liking (similar to what you can do in Sim City or Age of Kings).

Originally posted by quiet_earth:
I agree that a random map generator would be a great feature. I love creating my own maps, but I don't like starting with a blank screen. It would be nice to set a few basic parameters, generate a map, and then use the map "editor" to edit that map your liking (similar to what you can do in Sim City or Age of Kings).

Isn't the sim city editor just a height map addition? You can do that now if you so choose, just create a bitmap height image and import it into the editor so that you don't start with a completely flat blank screen.

Tip: Elevation maps that you are going to import into the editor needs to be 1 pixel wider on all sides than your map size, so if you create a map in the editor of 800x800 then you need a bmp height map of 801x801. They are also limited to 8bit shades of white and black.

It's pretty simple really -- in Civ, I generate a map and tweak it after the fact... maybe add a river, or more detail, pick where i want to start or maybe leave it to chance... this game needs a random map generator to go with the editor. Civ has an editor also, but as I said, it's faster to generate a map than look for one, download it, etc etc... that's just my opinion -- you may feel differently and that is fine... i just think that after the success of the very first settlers, they should have kept it in the game period.

I just bought :The Settlers, Rise Of An Empire: and I looked it up online and every website i went to said that it came with a map editor. But i installed it and i looked in every file in my computer posable and no map editor. what do i do to get the map editor. I tried to get it in a patch beacuse it said it added it to the game when you download it. WHAT DO I DO.....

If you've patched the game (the latest is 1.3}, you already have the editor.
The default install location is in C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\THE SETTLERS - Rise of an Empire\base\bin, look in there for an exe. file called S6MapEditor.exe.

Official Whisky taster and Herald to the Mighty Alderbranch.
"The clues are out there.....S.N.A.F.U."Anno Fans | Settlers Maps

I like that the game has a mep editor, which makes the game a lot more fun, but unfortunately I cannot use it . Whenevr I attempt to run it I get a message saying "An unknown error caused the program to stop working." I have Windows Vista, and I purchased and downloaded the game from gamestop.com, and it seems to have been patched while installing. The only thing that may seem to be the problem is that the game and map editor files are different versions, the game is 1.6 and the editor is 1.5, and if I attempt to patch further, it says that the installed game is not compatable with the patch. Please tell me if this is the problem and how to fix it or if it may be something else. Thanks!